INTERPRETING AND EVALUATING FICTION

Literature - body of written works; both prose and poetry.

Literary Criticism - the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literary in different
lenses or perspective.

It helps understand the importance about the text:

1. its structure
2. its context (social, economic, historical)
3. what is written
4. how the text manipulates the reader

Literary Criticism Main Function:

1. To analyze, study, and evaluate works of literature.
2. To form general principles for the examination of works of literature.
Moreover, there are critical stances for literature, and they are listed below:

1. Gender criticism. It looks for the influence of homosexuality within texts.

2. Biographical approach. It looks for the author’s influence on the text.
3. Historical approach. It examines the relation of the text of its historical or cultural backdrop.
4. Psychological approach. It applies the theory of psychology in order to understand the
text’s characters.
5. Formalist criticism. It focuses on the symbol, metaphor, imagery, and characterization of
the text.
6. Mythological Criticism. It is about the universal elements of human life that are common in
all cultures.
7. Marxism Criticism. It investigates assumptions and values associated with culture, race, and
class.
8. Deconstructionist Criticism. It is about the multiple valid meaning of the text because there
is multiple interpretation from the writer and reader.

VALUE OF LITERATURE (QUALITIES OF LITERARY MASTERPIECE)

That will say the specific literature a masterpieces

1. Artistry
- traits appeals to our sense of beauty
- appeals to readers standard of beauty
- in terms of lit., express intended meaning

2. Intellectual Value
- literary work stimulates thoughts
- enriches our mental life by making us realize fundamental truths about life and human nature
- claims critical thinking
- helps the uncover indispensible truths about life or human nature
- comprehension, vocabulary

3. Suggestiveness
- associated with the emotional aspect of literature
- great literature moves us deeply and stirs our feelings and imagination, giving and evoking
visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.
- emphatic
- trigger emotions

4. Spiritual Value
- literature puts our spirits high by bringing our the understanding of moral values which leads to
become better people
- inspire us to acquire values we will cherish or put into practice this making us closer to our
maker
- appeals to our sense morality by making us undergo self realization
- a good literature should retrospect and examine our selves or moral values
- capacity to inspire ordinary people who do things extraordinarily well
- why we have lessons in literature
- literature elevates the spirit by bringing our moral values which make a better person

5. Permanence
- a great work of literature can endure the test of time
- a literary piece can be considered as a literary masterpiece if it can be read again and again,
and each reading experience gives fresh delight and new insights and opens a new world of
meaning and experience
- it can be read over and over again as each reading gives fresh enjoyment
- an excellent literature last
- can be read in several occasion, the feeling is still the same; just like the first time
- each time you read, new insights and information is coming to you
- ex: classical literature, stories of homer: Iliad and Odyssey; works of Shakespeare

6. Universality
- great literature observes no limits
- a great literature appeals to one and all anytime and anywhere because it deals with
elemental/basic feelings of people, fundamental truth, and universal conditions
- ex: timeless and timely, forever relevant, it appeals to all regardless of race, gender, etc.
- relatable to all
- touches one life

7. Style
- the unique way in which the writer views life, forms his/her ideas and expresses them
- great works are marked by their lasting substances and distinctive styles
- a literacy piece manifests the artist's ingenuity and originality
- it degrade form the usual convention but he is able to showcase his talent beyond mediocrity
- ex: there are authors that are known for horror stories that ends in unexpected ways

"You cannot write without being a reader first." - Study other authors first.